PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - When we look back over the year 2015, I think we will retain above all the incredible performances of Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors for the NBA and the surprising return to the summit of Europe by Pau Gasol and Spain.

Curry and the Warriors are continuing to revolutionize the game at its highest level, proving that speed, precision, ball movement, great shooting and playing small are now more important in the NBA than height, brawn, hand-checking, rough'em up defense and isolation-type plays which were kings back in the 1990s!

The Warriors are a culmination of what Phil Jackson's Los Angeles Lakers, Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix Suns and Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs built during the last 15 years in terms of team play, uptempo style, three-point shooting and quality passing and it's a beautiful thing to watch for someone like myself who has followed the NBA closely for 50 years!

It's a question of personal taste but I'll take the style of those four aforementioned teams over Pat Riley's New York Knicks and Miami Heat or Chuck Daly's Detroit Pistons anytime. Of course, Jackson's and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls knew how to shine on offense and defense during their run to six titles in six NBA Finals and that's why we hold them in such high esteem even 20 years later.

Who knows how we'll describe Curry's and Golden State's run 20 years from now. They look like they're young and powerful enough to win three or four more titles in the next decade. Their biggest challenges will come from the Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder (if they stay together) this season and next.

In terms of NBA up-and-comers, we'll keep a close watch on Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Mirotic, the best rookies last season along with three "new wave" centers who are excellent rookies this season, Kristaps Porzingis, Karl Anthony Towns ans Jahlil Okafor. It looks like Jackson's Knicks will regain their standing building around Porzingis a lot faster than Jackson's former team, the Lakers, another storied franchise fallen into decrepitude.

At EuroBasket 2015 over the summer, Pau Gasol reigned supreme during the Final Phase in Lille after almost being eliminated by Germany in the last game of the Group Phase. Spain had been ousted from EuroBasket 2013 and the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup by France, and their revenge was all the more sweet as they crushed France's dream of winning a title at home by dominating the money time of their historic Semi-Final match-up.

What a game! In my 30 years of commentating France's national team games, I'd never felt such sadness and disappointment emanating from the selection after that heartbreaking loss. Gasol, at 35, with a team lacking some important players like his brother, Marc, scored 40 points - his personal best in national team competition - and put Spain squarely on his back to ride into the Final.

The return of head coach Sergio Scariolo intelligently put the ball back into Pau's hands where it should be, and Pau was the unanimous MVP. He's the most dominating player I've ever seen in Europe and when you add in his two NBA titles in three Finals' with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, he probably deserves to be voted the best European player of all-time.

Lithuania brilliantly made it to the Final and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games leaving ambitious favorites like France and Serbia in the uncomfortable position of needing to qualify for Rio 2016 next July. They'll probably qualify but there are no guarantees and they'll regret for a long time having had an off day, the day it counted the most in Lille!

For France, Nando De Colo and Rudy Gobert took the mantle of leadership from a trio of French NBA players who had somewhat disappointing stats during the Eurobasket.

So as they say at this time of the year, out with 2015, and bring on 2016, an Olympic year where Steph Curry could be NBA and Olympic champ during a busy two-month period, just like Jordan in 1992, Scottie Pippen in 1992 and 1996 or LeBron James in 2012. It's the kind of performance that puts you in elite company!

Happy Holidays, everyone.

George Eddy

FIBA

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